Aid workers under constant threat in besieged enclave, says WFP director
The World Food Programme’s operation in Gaza is the most dangerous among all of its recent missions, its regional director for Mena and Eastern Europe has said.
The WFP’s aid workers are under the constant threat of injury and death as fighting between Israel and Hamas continues to rage throughout the enclave, and also face danger from the “breakdown in law and order”, Corinne Fleischer told The National.
At least 200 employees and volunteers at humanitarian organisations have been killed in Gaza since the outbreak of war on October 7, making it the deadliest conflict in history for aid workers, according to the UN.
“The numbers speak for themselves,” Ms Fleischer said during the Dubai International Humanitarian Aid and Development exhibition.
The WFP in February suspended operations in northern Gaza, where the UN has warned that 70 per cent of the population face “catastrophic levels of hunger”.
The organisation halted its work in the area because food convoys were coming under attack from starving Gazans who did not know when their next meal would be, Ms Fleischer said.
“People were so hungry that as soon as the trucks would arrive, they would not only run to the trucks, but jump on them, open the boxes and eat the food before bringing some back to their families.”
As the security of those distributing and receiving aid is essential, Ms Fleischer said, the WFP began talks with Israel in an effort to expand its operations and ensure that its staff were provided with a safe route to Gaza’s north.
Three weeks after halting its operations, the WFP went back to work in northern Gaza, and is now in talks to increase the number of border crossings open to aid convoys.
The WFP has about 23,000 employees and operates in
more than 120 countries and territories around the world.
However, the wars in Ukraine and Gaza have overshadowed other protracted conflicts and humanitarian crises – such as in Syria – which have been “forgotten”, Ms Fleischer said.
This has widened the gap between the needs of people and the funding available to aid groups like the WFP, she added.
“Twelve years ago, we supported six million people. Now, we support 36 million – six times more.”
A growing number of people are in need of assistance, not only because of war, but also as a result of the effects of climate change and economic crises, Ms Fleischer said.
The war in Ukraine “broke the camel’s back”, she said, as food prices soared and demand for humanitarian aid reached “record levels”.
The focus on Ukraine and Gaza has also prompted NGOs such as the WFP to scale back their operations in countries that rely heavily on aid.
In Yemen, the WFP used to feed 9.5 million people, but a lack of funds and deteriorating security have forced it to reduce that number to 6.5 million.
“Now we have five governorates
that are at a record high in levels of hunger, unlike anything we’ve seen since 2018,” Ms Fleischer said. “Acute malnutrition in children has gone up by 20 per cent.”
In August last year, the WFP launched an appeal for Yemen, after announcing that it would have to make cuts to its food assistance programme in the country if the funding gap was not bridged by September.
However, the situation has only worsened since then.
With tension growing between Israel and Iran, Ms Fleischer said, it is crucial to prevent another war from breaking out.
“What is brewing is quite big, and a lot of efforts are being made not to have it,” she said.
Another war, she warned, would “exceed all of our capabilities”.